Futures tumble on growth worries, Chinese tech rout

[July 08, 2021]  (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell more than 1% on Thursday as the growing spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant cast doubts over an economic recovery, while a rout in Chinese technology stocks appeared to have spilled over.

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic warned that a spike in the highly infectious variant could hamper a U.S. economic recovery.

Minutes of the Federal Reserve's June meeting also showed that officials felt that an economic recovery still had a long way to go.

U.S.-listed Chinese stocks tumbled in premarket trading, tracking steep losses in China and Hong Kong as investors feared more strict measures from Beijing on the technology sector.

E-commerce giant Alibaba Group fell 2.6%, while internet search engine Baidu shed 3.8%.

Didi Global, whose app takedown by the Chinese government had sparked a recent selloff, fell 6.5%, while FAANG group of companies dropped between 0.9% to 1.7%.

The CBOE Volatility index, Wall Street's fear gauge, jumped 3.1 points to its highest level in over two weeks.

At 5:50 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 367 points, or 1.06%. S&P 500 e-minis were down 43.75 points, or 1.01% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 156.5 points, or 1.06%.

(Reporting by Ambar Warrick in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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